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Abstract

Some athletes perceive competitive state anxiety as unhelpful and negative to
performance while it energizes and excites others. Perceptions o f anxiety affect motor
performance, consequently it is important to develop strategies which are able to modify
athletes negative perceptions. Imagery is used as a common intervention for preparing athletes
for performance. Its motivational function refers to images related to physiological and
emotional arousal. Most imagery research has primarily been implemented for skill
development/learning of motor skills, and has not investigated the effects o f motivational
arousal imagery on competitive state anxiety. The aims of this study were to determine the
effects of an 8 week imagery intervention based on the motivation general arousal element of
Paivio’s (1985) analytical framework of imagery effects in: (a) modifying perceptions of
anxiety from negative to positive, and (b) improving performance o f the penalty kick. Using a
treatment (imagery) and no treatment (no imagery) design, two male and two female
representative youth soccer teams (N = 46) completed a modified version o f the Competitive
State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2D) five minutes before taking five penalty kicks. The
CSAI-2D assesses both intensity and direction (debilitative-facilitative) of the state anxiety
response. Participants (n = 28) who reported debilitative state anxiety as indicated by the
CSAI-2D were then allocated to imagery (n = 14) and no imagery (n = 14) groups
Debilitative state anxiety was assessed using CSAI-2D directional scores. Individuals who
scored less than 36 on cognitive or somatic directional scales were considered debilitative.
Following the 8 week intervention participants were again assessed on penalty kick
performance. Two-way analysis of variance (Group x Time) with repeated measures on the second factor revealed no significant interactions for cognitive anxiety; somatic anxiety; or
self-confidence intensity and direction subscales. Main effects were revealed for cognitive
anxiety direction (E(i,27) = 6.68, p < .05) and self-confidence intensity (E(i,27) = 4.54, p < .05).
The analysis was unable to demonstrate performance effects arising from imagery or no
imagery exposure. This study indicates that using motivational arousal imagery may not be a
compatible treatment for restructuring negative interpretations of state anxiety towards taking
soccer penalty kicks.